The present invention relates to systems for preventing driving of a vehicle by alcohol intoxicated persons.
Systems of the above mentioned general type are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,845 discloses an apparatus for preventing the operation of machinery by an operator who is intoxicated, which includes an alcohol sensor and a proximity sensor in the control area of the machinery affecting starting of the machinery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,919 discloses a blood alcohol monitor which measures ethanol levels expelled through a subject's skin to monitor blood alcohol level at regular or random intervals, and the device measures a distance from the subject's skin thereby preventing the subject from moving the device far enough away to provide an inaccurate indication of the amount of alcohol in the blood and providing another tamper indication if the device is removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,292 discloses a system which inhibits use of a hand-operated machine by detecting in a user toxin in the area of the machine which the user regularly engages.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,661 discloses a method of continuing tracking of blood alcohol with the use of a potential and diffusion-controlled electrochemical solid electrolyte sensor that continuously and concurrently measures very low concentration of ethanol vapor at the surface of the skin and also skin properties such as temperature and ionic conductivity.
A system as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,615 discloses a portion of a machine which an operator regularly engages with his or her hands and which is provided with a plurality of passage ways through which a vacuum is applied to draw vapor emitted by the hands of the individual and drawn through a sampling apparatus to produce a single indicative of an alcohol content of the individual.
U.S. patent application publication no. 2004/0083031 discloses an alcohol sensitive apparatus and method for vehicles, in which a blood alcohol sensing device senses that a potential driver of a vehicle has a blood alcohol content above a limit and sends a signal which causes operation of the vehicle to be disabled. A blood alcohol content limit may be transmitted by a transmitter and received by a vehicle.
A system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,236,094 includes means attached to a covering of a steering wheel for sensing trans-dermal messages from skin of a human being including alcohol content and temperature and logic circuit means activating switching means to shut off electric current in the ignition system to an engine if excessive alcohol content is detected.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,377,186 discloses a sensor system in which a steering wheel has a structural skeleton forming a core within an outer covering and having U-shaped cross-section with ethanol detectors communicating with a wire harness and an electrical circuit for receiving electrical signals indicative of presence of ethanol vapors.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,413,047 discloses an alcohol ignition interlock system with an alcohol concentration reader in combination with a vehicle ignition interlock circuit preventing an intoxicated person from operating a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,671,752 discloses a car alcohol monitoring system with a vapor analyzer system for detecting an amount of alcohol in a driver operating the car and a speed controller setting a maximum speed of the car to a predetermined level in the event that the amount of detected alcohol is above a predetermined threshold.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,700,044 discloses a chemical vapor sensor that passively measures a chemical species with high sensitivity and chemical specificity to detect a motor vehicle drive alcohol that exceeds a legal limit of blood alcohol concentration, with a channel of infrared detection making the sensor less costly.
A system disclosed in U.S. patent application publication 2010/0269566 includes an array of sensors imbedded into the steering mechanism of a motorized vehicle and ascertaining the driver's alcohol concentration so as to prevent the operation of motorized vehicle by a driver with excessive alcohol content.
U.S. patent application publication 2010/0921502 discloses an operation control system with a transmitter circuit connector, a transmitter interace, an engine start button switch, a receiver unit, and an engine ECU operating so as to provide the engine's start depending on alcohol level of a driver.
It is believed that the existing systems of this type can be further improved.